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45
were instituted by the Council, and substantial penalties inflicted
; but in the third and last case no such steps were taken.
All the seizures were made in Merton.
(c) Bakehouses.
There were 24 bakehouses in use in the District at the close
of the year, to which 100 visits were paid altogether. On five
occasions verbal requisitions to cleanse were called for and
readily complied with.
(d) Offensive Businesses.
Piggeries and their accessories constitute the principal
offensive businesses in the District, and they are numerous and
extensive in Mitcham, and to a less extent in Merton. Nearly
200 visits have been paid by the Inspectors in the course of the
year, and on 60 occasions some definite nuisance was found to
exist either from defective paving, uncleanliness, or from filth
accumulations.
Some of the accessories, particularly the boiling of waste
food, are even more offensive than the piggeries themselves, and
sometimes a trade of dealing and sorting refuse of various kinds
is combined with that of pig-keeping and food-boiling, which,
together, result in the causation of intolerable nuisances, especially
during the warmer months of the year.
In one of the worst cases the Council ordered notices to
be served upon the owner and occupier to make certain structural
alterations and repairs to render the premises fit for the trade
carried on, and this led to legal proceedings towards the close
of the year, by which a Magistrates' order to abate the nuisance
was obtained.
It is difficult, however, to deal adequately with these
businesses, unless they are controlled by a series of stringent
bye-laws or regulations, as was mentioned in the last Annual
Report.